Musical guest Timothy John Stafford joins Mark to talk about his most recent EP Letters from Lancaster Prison. On the album Tim tells the stories of five different inmates serving a life sentence without parole. The songs cover themes of hope, redemption, justice, and grace.

TRANSCRIPT

0:09

Welcome to Jessup think I'm your host Mark Moore. And excited on the show today we have our very first musical guest Timothy john Stafford. Welcome to the show, Tim, thank you very much for having me in here. And I'm really excited because I think as our first musical guests that really like taking us up as a podcast like another notch Yeah,

0:28

I feel like that may be overselling me. Hey, I'm gonna do my part.

0:35

You're a musical guest you have an album we're gonna talk about Yeah, now I'm not overselling anything you know, and and you're also the host or co host of Vox podcast with Mike Geary.

0:46

Yeah, I got hired on as the producer of that just trying to clean it up and edit the episodes and whatnot. And then slowly just got roped at work

0:56

your way into co hosts? Yeah. How long is that podcasts been going on?

1:00

I think that podcast has been on for three and a half years ish. somewhere around there. Yeah, we're like 230 200 I think this week's episode was 229.

1:11

That's like 20 years in dog years. Old her podcast years. That's good. Well, I like that. I like working your way in as producer. I did that in college. I just started playing, doing sound for a band. And then one year their bass player never came back. And I was like, I'm like, yeah, just where the notes again. Just point to him. And

1:33

I'll play him on a YouTube story too. Like Bono was the he was like their manager. He wanted to be the band super bad. And they kept giving him different roles. Yeah. Finally, there's like, Alright, man. Fine. Fine. You can work down there.

1:46

I guess so. Yeah. No. And they were probably like, what? 15 years old when they very not not a bad gig. You know, your first job ever.

1:55

And dog ears are like a million.

1:57

Yes. That is the truth and still going. So they are still going though going? Well, what are your most recent EP is is entitled letters from Lancaster prison. Yeah. And I'm really intrigued by just the story behind that album. How did that album kind of come about? And maybe your connection with Lancaster prison?

2:16

Yeah. So a couple years ago, I was getting my master's degree. So I could come and teach at a prestigious institutions such as William Jessup,

2:26

right? Yeah, we failed to mention you also teach some English class right?

2:29

I am a pretty sound. Still sounds very weird to say that. But my professor, I am one who professors? Yeah. You Professor English. Yeah. Not well. But during my master's degree program, I took a class that dealt with so Lancaster prison. I went to Cal State LA, okay, down in Los Angeles. And we won't hold that against you. Thank you. Yeah, yeah, I was the odd one out. All my old enemy teams that we grew up with sports wise, are all la team. Yeah, it was awkward. But Cal State LA has one of the only accredited programs in a prison system in the state of California. Oh, wow. And it got founded by the professor there who's now one of my good friends. And he basically was going into the prison started with him just going in and teaching a few classes in the prison. And then he just had worked it up to the state level to get it actually accredited. So they It was a bunch of men, of course, serving life without parole. Okay. And they, they earned the right through kind of just being, you know, not getting involved in violence or drugs or anything in the prison for like, most of them had been like, 10 years. I mean, they've been in there. All these guys have been there for a very long time. Yeah. And like, for example, one of the guys is the last he actually just got out, but he was the one of the last incarcerated men f